Hello everyone, this is Ms. (indistinct), here again to share some more handwriting with you.

I'm so excited to be here, I hope you're feeling excited too.

We're going to, as always, do our best, we are, as always, going to have lots of fun.

Are you ready to begin? Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can form the pre-cursive letters, u, y, and j.

This is going to be a lot of fun to have a go at forming these letters together.

Let's get into it.

We've got quite a few key words to look out for today.

I want you to make sure you're looking out for them, listen for these words, think carefully about these words.

Here they are.

My turn, your turn.

pre-cursive, lead in, lead out, loop, descender.

Fantastic, I loved hearing those words.

Let's make sure we listen out for them really carefully all throughout the lesson.

Today's lesson, "Pre-cursive formation of u, y and j" has got four sections to it.

First of all, we're gonna start with our trustee handwriting warm-up.

Next, we'll be forming the pre-cursive letter u, then the pre-cursive letter y, and finally the pre-cursive letter j.

Let's get started with some handwriting warm-ups and let's remember why they're important.

Before we start to write, it's important to warm up our hands and our wrist muscles.

Our hands and our wrists get stronger when we exercise them, and warming up our hands before writing will help to improve our handwriting.

So let's have a go at some really fun warm-ups.

Let's have a go at the finger tap warm-up.

I'll go first and then it will be your turn.

I love this warm-up because it exercises our fingers and because it feels so good doing this on our head, giving ourselves a little massage.

So I'm gonna start by putting my hands on top of my head and I'm gonna tap each of my fingers, starting with my little finger all the way to the thumb.

And I'm actually gonna tap down the side of my head, so moving each of my fingers, tapping, and it feels great on my head, it's like a lovely, gentle massage.

Now I'm going to go back up to the top and this time I'm going to tap down the back of my head.

Oh, this is feeling like a lovely way to begin our handwriting session.

Hmm, really nice.

And now it's your turn.

Get your hands ready, place 'em on top of your head, tapping down the sides of your head.

Doesn't that feel good? I love this exercise because it sounds good, it feels good on our head and, crucially, it's strengthening our fingers, ready for handwriting.

Fantastic.

Next, we're going to have a go at the wrist shake.

This is really helpful for our wrists.

So all we're gonna do is just gonna hold our hand down like this and we're going to shake, shake our hand, so shaking our wrist, shaking our hand.

And I'm gonna do the same on the other side, just shaking my wrist and my hand.

Now it's your turn.

Are you ready? So get, choose whichever hand you want to begin with and let's just shake that wrist.

Other side, shake your wrist.

Nice gentle shake.

Really fun way to do this is we could also shake upwards, and this is lovely, have a go with me, because this is like we are saying bye, just for now, or we can be saying Hello.

Hello.

Well done.

As well as the warm-ups, practising writing patterns will also help to prepare us for writing letters.

There are all kinds of different really fun patterns we can do.

Zigzags, loops, so many great patterns.

Check for understanding, true or false.

Doing hand exercises will make our hand and wrist muscles stronger? Pause the video while you decide.

Yes, we are gonna get stronger in our hands, in our wrists, if we exercise them.

And that's gonna help our handwriting, what's not to love? For your task, I'd like you to copy and continue the pattern using your tripod grip.

Make sure you keep your pencil on the page while you're forming the pattern, so you're just gonna loop around and up and just keep your pencil on the page the whole time.

Pause the video while you have a go at this task.

How did you get on? How did you go with copying and continuing the pattern, using your tripod grip? Do you make sure you are holding your pencil in that trustee tripod grip, and did you keep your pencil on the page the whole time you made that pattern? I hope so.

For the next part of our lesson we'll be forming the pre-cursive letter u.

This is a great letter, I'm really excited about this.

Here it is, here's the u.

Take a close look, have a look from all angles, what do you see, what do you notice? Tell someone near you and pause the video here.

Mm-hmm, did you notice these three things? First of all, did you notice the lead in at the start of the pre-cursive letter u? At the end of the letter, did you notice the lead out? So these are really important parts of the letter, we'll hear more about them shortly, and did you notice that it's an x-height letter? Let's find out more.

This is the pre-cursive formation of the letter u.

So pre-cursive means before cursive, the pre means before.

So pre-cursive comes before cursive, first we have print at the end we have cursive or joined up handwriting and right in the middle we've got pre-cursive, that's what we are all about in this lesson.

The pre-cursive formation of the letter u has a lead in, so the lead in is a small line that's at the baseline that helps us to lead into that letter, and it's gonna help our writing to flow and to join.

And then at the end we have a lead out, and this takes us outta the letter and then into the next one.

So a lead out from one letter joins the lead in to the next in cursive handwriting, so this is getting us ready for that.

The letter u is an x-height letter.

Check for understanding, select the true statements.

The letter u is an x-height letter.

The letter u has a dot at the top.

The pre-cursive formation of u has a lead in and out.

The letter u starts on the ascender line.

Think carefully about these statements and select the true ones, pause the video while you choose.

Well done, if you selected statement A and C.

The letter u is indeed an x-height letter and the pre-cursive formation of the u has a lead in and a lead out.

Well done.

Okay, it's time to start forming the letter u in the air.

I'm gonna have a go, first of all, I'll use my finger, afterwards it will be your turn.

So do you remember what we say when we begin forming our pre-cursive letters? What we like to say is, "Ready, line go." That reminds us that we're gonna start here on the line, on the baseline, all pre-cursive letters start on the baseline.

Ready, line go.

Lead in up to the x-height line, back down to the baseline, up again to the x-height line, down to the baseline and lead out.

Lovely, lovely letter u.

Okay, do one more.

Ready, line go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, back up again to the x-height line, down, lead out.

Okay, it's over to you.

Get yourself ready, line go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, down and lead out.

Let's go again, we can't stop these Us, let's go.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the x-height line, down and lead out.

Those Us look terrific, well done u.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter u.

I'm sitting comfortably, holding my pen in a tripod grip.

I'm going to say to myself, "Ready, line, go." So I need to start the baseline with my lead in and I'm gonna go up to the x-height line, come back down to the baseline, back up to the x-height line, down to the baseline and lead out.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in up to the x-height line, down, back up to the x-height line, down and lead out.

Let's try one more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, down and lead out.

Check for understanding, which is the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter u? Take a look at these three Us, choose which is the correct one and pause the video while you decide.

Yes, it's the u in the middle.

This one has a lead in, and when the u is complete it has a lead out.

For your task, I'd let you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter u.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot and, finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Enjoy all the Us, you've got this.

Pause the video here.

So we're back, and how did you get on with forming the pre-cursive letter u? Did you remember ready, line, go and start on the baseline? Did you remember a lead in? Did you remember a lead out? Did you keep your pencil on the page for the formation of each u? Did you enjoy every single one? Circle your best one and celebrate.

Next we're moving on to forming the pre-cursive letter y.

Here it is, here's the y.

Look closely at it.

Hmm, really peering here, what do you see? What do you notice? Tell someone next to you everything you notice about the pre-cursive letter y.

Mm-hmm, here are some interesting things to notice.

Did you notice that lead in? Did you notice, this is something quite interesting, it actually looks really similar to the u, the part of it that's in between the baseline and the x-height line, and then for the next part of the letter at the end, did you notice that there is a loop as the part of the lead out? Hmm, that's pretty curious.

Let's find out more.

This is the pre-cursive formation of the letter y.

The letter y is similar to the letter u but it has a descender.

The letter y has a loop at the end of the descender as the lead up, so do you remember a descender is a part of the letter that goes beneath the baseline, so it's reaching all the way down, it's descending.

Descending means to go down, it's descending below the baseline, down to the descender line.

And the letter y has a loop, so do you remember we've been doing some patterns with loop? So a loop is this kind of a shape, and it has a loop at the end as the lead out.

There's something important about this loop, so this loop at the end of the letter y allows for a smooth transition from one letter to the next when you're writing in cursive.

So from this Y, we'll do this loop and the loop will take us straight into whatever our next letter is going to be.

Let's say we're going to write a letter yes,.

this y would take us into the e.

Oh, it feels so nice, there's something so lovely about moving smoothly from one letter to the next.

The loop allows for a natural connection from the descender to the next letter without lifting your pencil from the paper, so we're just smoothly moving into that next letter.

And the letters, y, g, f, and j all have these lovely loops in their pre-cursive formation.

So do look out for them, if you come to the letters g, f and j.

There's our descender and the loop.

It's time to form the pre-cursive letter y in the air.

I'm going to have a go, first of all, using my fist, after that it will be your turn.

So I'm going to start, remember where? At the baseline.

And I'm gonna say to myself, "Ready, line, go." And I lead in up to the x-height line, back down, up to the x-height line, and then I'm gonna go down, descend, descend, descend to the descender line and a loop which finishes just above the baseline.

Okay, again.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, all the way down to the descender line and a lovely loop as my lead out.

Okay, look at those ys, why not enjoy all of these beautiful letter ys that we can see.

All right, it's your turn.

Get your fist in position at the baseline.

Let's go, Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the x-height line, descend to the descender line and a loop which finishes just above the baseline.

All right, should we try one more? We are going to start at the baseline.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, down, down, down, descend, and a loop.

Look at those, well done.

That's a fantastic job you've done there, hope you're feeling proud.

Going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter y.

I'm sitting comfortably, I'm holding my pen in the tripod grip.

I'm gonna say, "Ready, line, go," to remind me to start here on the baseline.

There's my lead in, and then I'm going up to the x-height line, down to the baseline, back up to the x-height line, and I'm gonna go back down and I'm gonna keep going 'cause this is gonna descender.

and then go down to a descender line and then I'm gonna form a loop that finishes just above the baseline.

Let's try that again.

Ready, line, go to my lead in, up to the x-height line, back down to the baseline, up to the x-height line, all the way down to the descender line, I'm gonna form a loop that finishes just above the baseline.

And one more.

Ready, line, go.

There's my lead in , x-height line, down to the baseline, x-height line, all the way down to the descender line.

There's my lovely loop, finish just above the baseline Check for understanding, select the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter y.

Choose from these three ys, which is the right one? Pause and tell someone nearby.

Well done, if you selected the first letter y.

This one has got the lead in, it's going all the way back up to the x-height line, it's coming down to the descender line and it has that loop across.

It doesn't have a little swirl, it just has that really nice loop.

For your task, I'd like you to practise forming the pre-cursive letter y.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot and, finally, complete two lines of the pre-cursive letter y independently on your tramline.

Enjoy all the ys, enjoy all the loops.

Why not have fun, and pause the video here.

Okay, we're back together.

How did it go, the pre-cursive letter y? Did you, ready, line, go, start on the baseline with that lead in? Did you remember the loop at the end of the descender? that's the lead out.

Did you enjoy them all, circle your best one, the best y and celebrate, yeah.

For the next part of our lesson we are forming the pre-cursive letter j.

Here it is, here's the j.

Look closely at it.

Hmm, what do you see? What do you notice? Tell someone nearby.

Pause the video here.

Few very interesting things to notice here.

Did you notice as with all precursor letters, it's got that lead in? Did you notice that it has got a loop at the end as the lead out, and being a j, lowercase j, it has that dit at the top.

Let's find out more.

This is the pre-cursive formation of the letter j.

The letter starts on the baseline to form the lead in.

Remember, we can say, "Ready, line, go," as we form that lead in.

The letter j has a descender.

Remember what a descender does, it descends, which means it goes down below the baseline, down to the descender line.

And the letter j has a loop at the end of the descender as the lead out, so from that loop we go into the next letter when we move into cursive.

It's time to form the letter j in the air.

I'm gonna have a go first, then it'll be your turn.

I'm gonna use my finger to form this letter j, and remember where I'm gonna start, at the baseline.

What am I gonna say? Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, all the way down, down, down, descend to the descender line, and I'm gonna make this lovely loop to just above the baseline, take my pencil off the page and dot at the top of the j.

Fantastic, lemme try one more.

Ready, line, go.

Lead in, up to the x-height line, all the way down to the descender line, a loop finishing just above the baseline, finger off, dot at the top.

We're done.

Fantastic, it's your turn.

Get ready, line, go on the baseline, up to the x-height line, descend all the way down to the descender line, make a loop to just above the baseline, pencil off, dot at the top.

Let's go again, js, js, js, that's all I wanna see.

Ready, let's go.

Ready, line, go.

Up to the x-height line, down to the descender line, make a lovely loop, pencil off, dot the j.

One more.

Ready, line, go.

X-height line, descender line, loop, dot.

We're done, they look great.

Hope you're feeling so proud of those j's.

I'm going to show you how to form the pre-cursive letter j.

I'm sitting comfortably, my pen is in a tripod grip and I'm gonna say to myself, "Ready line, go," as I make my lead in.

And then I'm going up to the x-height line and I'm going down, down, down to the descend line, and then I'm gonna form a loop as the lead out and that finishes just above the baseline.

Then I lift up my pen and add the dot.

Let's try that again.

Ready line, go.

At the baseline, there's my lead in, up to the x-height line, all the way down to the descender line.

I'm gonna form a loop that will act as my lead out, finishing just above the baseline, pen off and dot.

One more.

Ready, line, go.

Up to the x-height line, down to the descender line, form a lovely loop is my lead out, pen off and a dot.

Check for understanding, select the correct formation of the pre-cursive letter j.

Take a look at these three j's, which is the right one? Pause the video while you decide.

Oh yes, it's that j in the middle.

That one has got the dot on the top, and that one is sitting correctly in between the x-height line and the descender line, and let's not forget the lovely loop.

For your task, I'd like to practise forming pre-cursive Letter j.

First of all, go over the grey examples.

Next, try using the starting dot and, finally, complete two lines independently on your tramlines.

Enjoy the dots, the loops, the whole feel of this lovely letter j.

Pause the video here while you complete your task.

Okay, we're back together.

How did you get on with forming the pre-cursive letter j? Did you start on a baseline? Did you say, "ready, line, go"? Start on the baseline of your lead in? Did you form a loop at the end of the descender as the lead out? Did you take your pencil off the page to add the dot at the top? Circle your best letter j and celebrate.

Great job team.

In our lesson, pre-cursive formation of u, y and j, we have covered the following.

The pre-cursive letters, u, y, and j all have a lead in and a lead out.

The letters all start on the baseline.

The letters y and j have a loop as their lead out to support a smooth connection to the next letter when writing in cursive.

The letters, u and y are formed in similar ways, but letter y has a descender.

Really well done everyone, I love how focused you were and how much you were getting into the loops and the dots and the lead-ins and the lead outs, this was a great lesson.

I can't wait to see you in the next one.

Bye, for now.